1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to image reading by designating scan parameters for reading image data.
2. Description of the Related Art
In a computer connected to an image reading apparatus such as a scanner, a scanner software in the computer sets scan parameters such as color type, resolution and size to the scanner to read an image of a document. For example, in an apparatus including a scanner and a display unit disclosed in Japanese Patent laid open Publication 3-167679/1991, an image of a document is read by the scanner and stored in a memory device. However, when an image of a document of maximum size or the like is read by the scanner but the scan direction does not coincide with the display direction for the document, the document size and portrait/landscape are specified, and a scanned image data is rotated in accordance with the specified conditions and stored in the memory device. Thus the document image in the desired direction is displayed without considering the direction of the document.
In a conventional scanner software and a conventional scanner device, however, the image data read by the scanner is processed at a side decided previously among the scanner software and the scanner. Therefore, when the processing is performed by the side having an inferior performance, there is a problem that a processing time such as image data transmission time increases or the data transfer (traffic) increases in the network including the scanner and the scanner software. Moreover, when an image is read by an image reading apparatus, a wait time may happen for processing other jobs and this may delay the processing. Moreover, when a plurality of scanner devices having different performance are available, it is a problem that a scanner software in correspondence to each scanner device has to be provided for the computer. Therefore, it is desirable to process an image efficiently in the system including the scanner and the computer.